Yes indeed, LKing. I'm pretty much done with Google in general, Gmail in particular, and will shut down the account. I use it in a limited capacity anyway, when I prefer not to reveal my real email address in online forms and stuff like that.
Google's pernicious user tracking, lack of morality and ethics, the nonstop spam assault, the way Google helped turn the web into an evil strip mall from hell – I'm done.
I've taken several steps to exorcize Google from my online life.
1. Google is no longer the default search engine on my browsers (switched to DuckDuckGo - which seems somewhat more trustworthy).
2. When using Google for anything (very rarely), I clear history, cookies, and cache when quitting my browser (usually Safari, sometimes Firefox, never Chrome).
3. If I'm feeling especially paranoid, I shut down my Mac, local WiFi router, internet connection, and go take a nap.
The mail server for my real email address offers something Google does not: A simple method to block and blacklist incoming mail from any domain or country code (such as everything from rouge domains like OVH.net, for example). Their crap never hits my inbox.
I know, I know, these methods will not completely save us from the ongoing spam/scam/phishing nightmare. They make me feel better, in the hope that maybe some day humankind will be free from money-grubbing spammers and corporate jerks. Probably not, but maybe.
Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.